Embroidery stitching sewing machine



Sept. 29, 1959 A. VIGORELLI 2,906,219 EMBROIDERY STITCHING SEWING MACHINE Filed Nov. 25, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet' 1 I mm;

- I INVENTOR.

v ARHALDo V/a-oRELL/ Sept. 29, 1959 A. VlGORELLl EMBROIDERY STITCHING SEWING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 23, 1953 INVENTOR. ARHAL-Da V/G-ORELH BY 5/ 5, IIIIIIIIIIIIII'I I IllllfllI/ll/ll/l/f :llllvlllzallllrnra p 1959 A. VlGORELLl EMBROIDERY STITCHING SEWING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheei 3 Filed Nov. 23, 1953 INVEN TOR. Ammwo V16- ORELL/ Sept. 29, 1959 A. VIGORELLI 2,906,219

EMBROIDERY STITCHING SEWING MACHINE Filed Nov. 25, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 11;- MW 1 WWWWWWWWW 11-9 #9 d WWWWWWMW mwmwmmwmmmmwmwm 11;. 9f WWWWMWMWWWWWM 9 9 WWWMWNWWJWMW y- MWMMMMMMMMMM #9- WWWWWWWWWWW 4% WWW gm 1 9 WWW WM W ARV/ALDO V/MRELL Maw Unit d WSPM O J EMBROIDERY ,STlT-CHING SEWING MACHINE A a d i Q i, Pavi a y Application November 23, 1953, Serial No. 393,760 Cla ms Priority, application Italy January 28, 1953 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-453 of fabrics and/or other material of similar character.

More particularly, it relates to a new and useful control device in sewing machines of the type referred to above, having a vertically reciprocating and laterally movable needle or needles, a drive shaft for reciprocating said needle or needles and cam means in mechanical driving relationship with said shaft for laterally moving said needle or needles according to a predetermined cycle of stitching .operation.

.Several types of Zigzag sewing machines for embroidery stitching -have been heretofore proposed and currently produced. In the sewing machines of most advanced design the control devices for laterally moving the needle are provided with interchangeable cam means whereby many varieties of designed stitches may be made in differing predetermined patterns, means being also provided for easy substitution of the one cam member actually in operation within the device with another differently shaped cam member, for having another different ornamental embroidery or fancy stitches produced, when desired.

The sewing machines of the above known type are subject to the common objection that it is necessary to take the cam member out of the machine and substi- -tuting thereof another cam member in its operative position in the machine. Said operations require a certain mechanical skill and may be performed as the machine is at standstill only. Further, a number of differing cam members must be at disposal for having a like number of .dilferentornamental .or embroidery patterns.

Having said objection in mind, I provide a novel and useful sewing machine, according to this invention, which includes, in combination, a vertically reciprocated and (laterally movable needleor needle assembly, a drive shaft for reciprocating said needle or assembly, and a control device for controlling the lateral movement of said needle -or assembly and provided with a plurality of cam members and with transmission means for operatively relating said needle or assembly, alternately'and at will, to each one of said cam members, whereby a plurality of embroidery patterns may be obtained.

Another object of this invention is to provide, in a sewing machine of the character referred to aboveand including, a plurality of cam members, control means designed for having the said transmission means, at will,

.set in operative relationship either with whatever single member comprised in said plurality or withtwoof,

2,906,219 Patented Sept. 29, 1 959 said cam members, whereby a number of predetermined embroidery patterns may be obtained by the co-operation of one or more pairs of cam members in addition to the number of different predetermined embroidery patterns which may be obtained by the operation of any single cam members.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and useful arrangement for a plurality of cam members whereby any or substantially any single cam member comprised in said plurality may be readily substituted and/ or set in other operative position in respect of other ca m members comprised in the same plurality, whereby by using the same cam members a further large plurality of embroidery patterns may be produced at will by interchanging the same members within the device, in relation 'of the pair or pairs of co-operating cam members.

A still further object of this inventionis to provide, in a sewing machine of the type referred to above and provided with a plurality of cam members, a new and useful hand-control device wherebv the transmission means provided for laterally moving the needle or the needle assembly may be operatively connected to any cam member or pair of co-operating cam members by simple action exerted on an external hand-lever or button, or the like, regardless of whether the machine is at standstill or in operation. v

A still other object of this invention is a general improvement of sewing machines of the zigzag {type and in particular for current sewing and for embroidery stitch ing, in relation both to construction and to operation thereof.

These and other important objects that will be made apparent as this description proceeds are accomplished by the novel construction, combination and arrangement .of parts hereinafter described and illustrated in the ac- .companying drawings, constituting an essential component .of this disclosure, and in which:

Figure 1 is a .diagram-matical vertical sectional view of a sewing machine comprising the combination of operative parts according to this invention;

Figure 2 illustrates a control device embodying the features of this invention in a'preferred form of embodiment thereof, illustrated partly in section and partly in plan viewof the assembly comprising the operative parts, supported in a horizontally sectioned casing;

Figure 3 is partly a side view and partly a cross sectional view, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, of the detail including the plurality of cam members;

Figure 4 is an elevation view .of the casing of the machine, in the portion thereof comprising the hand-control and regulation means;

Figure 5 illustrates a detail of a regulating device, shown in a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 2-;

' Figure 6 illustrates the detail of the transmission means comprised in the control device, partly in section and partly in elevation, as it appears looking in the direction indicated by 66 in Fig.2; 1

Figure 7 illustrates the detail of another regulating de vice, shown partly in elevation and partly in sectional view taken on line 7.';7 of Fig.2; a

Figure 8 illustrates diagrammatically the combination of transmission members of .Fig. 1, to demonstrate the action thereof on regulating the device of Fig- 6, and

' 7 Figures 9419 99'inclusive illustrate in a rather diagrammatical, enlarged plan view examples of various embroidery designs in zigzag stitching which may be produced by the use of an improved machine embodying the invention, without changing of cam members, and by the operation of the various single cam members included in the said plurality and by the co-operation of some pairs of same cam members in relative adjacent relationship.

Like reference numerals refer to like or equivalent parts, members and features throughout the several figures of the accompanying drawings.

In general, a sewing machine improved according to this invention and comprising a vertically reciprocating and laterally movable needle, a drive shaft for reciprocating said needle and means for laterally moving same, includes a shaft means rotatably supported in the machines casing or structure, gear means or other equivalent transmission device for rotatively connecting said drive shaft to said shaft means, a plurality of disk-shaped cam members interchangeably supported on and rotatively connected to said shaft means, in relative co-axial and side-by-side relationship, a cam following finger member designed to co-operate with said cam members and movably supported on a rocking arm or equivalent device spanning the whole plurality of said cam members, transmission means for operatively connecting said rocking arm to said laterally movable needle for having the latter moved according to the motion of said rocking arm, and hand-controlled means for moving said cam following finger along said spanning rocking arm for putting said finger in following relationship with whatever cam member is comprised in said plurality.

In a preferred form of embodiment of this invention, the said hand-controlled means are designed to put, at will, the said cam following finger either in a position such to co-operate with the cam shaped periphery of a single cam member and in a position intermediate to a pair of adjacent cam members, such to have said finger in following relationship with both peripheries of said cam members, and whereby to have the said rocking arm moving according to the salients of both said cam members.

In rather more detail, as shown in Fig. 1, all parts and members of the devices produced according to the invention are enclosed in and protected by the upper portion of the machines casing. Said casing will not be described in detail and it will be shown in the accompanying drawings in part only, the construction of said cas- -ing and likewise of all other devices not forming essential parts of this invention being matter comprised within the range of knowledge of those skilled in the art and thereby indicated by the expression according to current art or by an equivalent thereof as this description proceeds. According to current art, the machine comprises a needle-bearing member 11 slidably supported by a swinging lever 12 for having said needle axially reciprocated for its conventional sewing action, and said swinging lever 12 is 'pivotally supported at 13 to the frame structure 14 of the machine, for allowing the lateral motion of said needle in view of the production of zigzag sewing. An intermediate portion of the drive shaft for reciprocating said needle is indicated by reference numeral 15, the said drive shaft 15 operating said needle by means of a conventional crank means (not shown) or other reciprocating device produced according to current art.

In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 8 reference numeral 16 generally indicates the plurality of cam members, or cam unit, the construction of which will be described in detail below, and which substantially comprises a number of diskshaped cams, say six cams, of like basic diameter and thickness, in co-axial and side-by-side relationship and connected .one to other as to form a unit rotatably supported about a shaft 17 made integral with said frame structure 14 of the machine. The said cam unit 16 is operatively connected to and driven by said drive shaft 15 by means of helical gears 18' and 19, for example, made I 4 integral with said cam unit 16 and with said drive shaft 15, respectively. Reference numeral 20 indicates a cam following finger, designed to follow the notched periphery of the cam members, and supported at one end of a rocking bell crank lever means 21 swingably supported at 23 about a shaft made integral with same structure 14 and having its axis parallel to the axis of said cam unit 16. At its other end 22, the said rocking bell crank lever means 21 is pivotally connected to the upper end of a short link member 24 the lower end of which is connected at 25 to one end of a long link member 26. The other end of same long link member 26 is pivotally connected at 27 to a two-armed swingable lever 28 pivotally supported at 29 about a shaft made integral with said frame structure 14. By a pivotal and slidable connection at 30, said swingable arm 28 co-operates with said swinging lever 12, through an extension 31 thereof.

Provided that the pivot constituting the said pivotal connection at 25 is confined to move along a predetermined path (by means of guiding and regulating devices described below), as said cam unit is rotatively driven by drive shaft 15 in cyclical relationship with the reciprocating motion of needle, and provided that the said cam following finger 20 is positioned in following relationship with the notched periphery of at least one cam track of unit 16, the said rocking oscillating arm 21 is subjected to a rocking motion according to the sequency of salients and hollows of said periphery and through the described linkage members 24, 26 and 28 the said oscillatable needle controlling member 12 is subjected to lateral movement according to a predetermined cycle of operation related to the cam track pattern of said periphery, whereby a given embroidery pattern may be produced by the zigzag controlled action of the sewing needle.

The above said primary object of this invention is attained, according to the invention, by the combination of a cam unit of the character described, comprising a plurality of cam means, and of means for displacing the cam following means 20 on the end of said rocking lever 21.

In the preferred form of embodiment shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the cam unit 16 includes six cam members 16a, 16c, 16e, 16g, 16h and 16, Cam member 16a is formed by an out-turned flange extension 40 of an outer tubular member 41, supported by, rotatably connected to and axially removable from an inner tubular member 42, which is made integral with said helical gear 18 (Fig. 3). Said inner tubular member 42 is rotatably supported about said shaft 17 and axially held by abutments on a step 43 of same shaft 17 and on a heading screw 44, for example. When turning, said tubular member 41 (forming cam 16a) is held in its axial operative relationship with inner tubular member 42 by abutment on an out-turned flange forming extension 45 of the latter member and by a screwcap 46 in threaded connection with one end of said inner member 42, arranged outside casing 10 of the machine and designed to be screwed on and off by hand.

Said tubular member 41 acts as supporting means for other cam means 160, 16a, 16g, 1671 and 16f which are constructed in form of disks 47. Said cam disks are held about said tubular member 41 in co-axial and abutting relationship one to other and to the cam forming flange 40 by a large disk member 48, threaded on the end of member 41 opposite to flange 40. Said disk member 48 covers when correctly screwed on said member 41 an opening 49 and that, by unscrewing the said disk member large enough to admit removal of the described cam unit 16, when'required. r

In view of the common requirement of producing regular zigzag sewing, the periphery of cam member 16a is preferably machined to form a cam track having a pattern of evenly spaced and dimensioned salient-andhollow'array for having the lateral zig-zag motion of theneedle imparted as the reciprocal motion of same is. On the contrary, the other cam tracks are designed to imtp the oscillatable needle'control member 12, various the art may readily devise.

.cycles .of movements .difie'reningdn amplitude feud/to 1S .quency, iorthaving the desired various embroidery designs .or patterns produced.

From what has been set forth above and in particula by a .considerationof Fig. v3 of the accompanying drawings, it will be readily understood by those-skille in th ,art that by :un-screwing the said cap .46 the Whole unit may .be easily removed trom the machine through opening 49 and that, by unscrewing the said disk member 48 from the end of tubular member 41 the disk-shaped cam members '47 may ;be removed from said tubular member whereby said cam un t :is disassembled. One .or more disk-shaped cam members 47 m y be substituted for setting the machine to produceiene or mo e othe broidery patterns, and/or --the position of tone or more disk-shaped cam members 47 may be varied, as to have ,oneor more said members set in adjacent relationship with disk-shaped memb s o her t an he ne in adj ce relationship prior to said disassembling.

The ,constructionlofthe-said rocking 2 1 for vhaving the cam following finger 20 displaceable thereon may be carried out in various embodiments which those skilled in In the preferred torm of embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3 {the-said rocking arm 21 is provided with a lateral extension 59 spanning over the whole a a ength of t pl re z yb cam me e s and constituting a supporting means. -Into said extension 50 ;a' rod 51 is slida'bly supported and axially movable, an the sa d o 51 has the a d gemwi g n e 20 ra ial y p je the e t ugh a gro e 52 (Fig- 3). Members 5 1 and 2.0,eonstitute cam follower means.

T-he said rod 51 is provided with an end ,53 positioned ntside the extension 50 of rocking arm 21 andpiuota-lly andslidably connected at 54, by means of .a conventional .pin-and-groove connection as shown in Fig. 2, for example, tonne end of a two-armed lever ,55 pivoting about pin 56 scnewed-in the maehinds trame structure 14. The

other end of same two-armed lever 55 is provided with .a pin 57 slidably engaging with an helical groove 5.8 of a shaft 59 v(Pig. 2) rotatably supported by said irame structure 14 extending out-side the :front 1flank pf the easing 10 of the sewing machine, and made integral with a hand button '60 whereby said shaft 59 may be easily rotated by hand. 'Lhe rotatable unit eomprisingtsaid button .60 is preferably provided with a suitable conventional :means for having theisarne maintained in whatever angular PQsit-ion of pl r li y f ang lar po itions at any one of which, by means of the described co-operating members, .the said cam following fingers rests onthe n c d Per ph y o Q member t n i r diate position between two adjacent cam members, for cooperating with the peripheries of both .said members. Said means may comprise, tor example, .a ball ,dlmovably supported inside a hole drilled in said button .60 and pressed by a helical spring ,62 on ,a base plate 64 made integral with casing 10 and provided withia set .of correspondingly ,angularly spaced hollows in whichsaid ball may rest. The said button 560 -is further provided with ,an indicating circular scale .63 whereby the angular position of said button, and subsequently the operative position .of cam following finger 2A), may .be .observed and determined by the operator. 7

Still further, the described ,combinationlof partsand members, which co-operate for forming the fcontrol -.de vice of the machine in .view of the production of .differing embroidery patterns, comprises means vfor facilitating the displacement of cam following fingerIZtlillOrig ex ension of rocking arm 2 ndflrlno e partic lar y fo "havin s id n r s from the o e a n p ip e y or peripheries of cam membersin view of its lateral movement in respect thereof." For exampleQas shown in Figgl and partially in Figid; said means eorriprises a pushbutton 65 normally; kept inup-raised position by spring "means, by a-coilspring=66 for example, and so positioned 12113113218 it pressed the docking arm .21 isncompell'ed .to

19b-may be produced, said pattern being a combination 3 rock counter-clockwise (Fig. 1) raising said finger {and having the same free to be laterally displaced.

As it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, by the provision of a control device as above described and shown in the accompanying drawings, or of an equivalent thereof, a zigzag sewing machine improved according to this invention may be set for production of varied ornamental or embroidery patterns by a simple turning of said button 60 or by handling an equivalent device, an hand lever connected to said two-armed lever 55, for example. Further, it will be apparent that said device may allow the production of differing embroidery patterns the number of which exceeds the number of the single cam members comprised in said cam unit, owing to-the fact that the said cam following fingermay co-operate with two co-operating adjacent cam members besides that with any single cam member. Still furthen fit will be apparent that by having at disposal a comparatively small number of different disk-shaped cam members, 'a very large number of predetermined embroidery patterns may be produced, besides the ones attained by the individual cam members and by the co-operation of, adjacent cam members; because by removing and disassembling the said unit, as above described, said .cam members may be reset about the said tubular member 41 in many-differing relative adjacent relationships. I

One exampl of eadv nt ge g ven'by e provis p of an improved control device produced and operated according to this invention will be now made evident by re g t g 1 to and y suppos n hat 'in be cam unit 16 the notched peripheries of eams 16a, 16c, 16e, 16g, 16h and 16 are provided with salients and hollowsdesigned, by applying current knowledge in the art, to produce an embroidery pattern asshown in Fig. 9a and res cti ely in F g -1 c, 9a g. W1 an 1', he wh le series of said Figs. 9a to 9 j inclusive representing. the rder an th sequ ncy of t 'pa tern a y n of whic m y be P d c at w bysimn yfis tt ns the ma h n with the se ,o a -b n 6 on y e t e wh th machine is at standstill or in operation. I

M r particularly, y turn ng hand button '60 .as th cam following finger 20 will rest .on the periphery of calm member 16a only, a regular or normal? zigzag pattern will b p duced. Pref a y, e sa d gra uation 6.3 of button 60 will be provided'with an indicating signiiN positioned to refer to a reference arrow 67 (Eig. .4 at said operative ,conditionof parts. The same graduation will be provided with signs l, 2 5 positioned to have the operative positioning of said finger with the first,

the second and respectively the fifth cam arranged in the cam unit 16 beyond basic cam 16a, and interemediate signs between said numeral signs.

In 9a said regular or normal zigzag pattern is diagrammatically illustrated in diiferent width in portions A, B and C of same figure, the variation ofwidth being attained, from a maximum to zero, "by acting on a suitable width regulating device of the type currently produced and applied to sewing machines of zigzag type. A preferred form of embodiment of said device'will'be described in detail below, as forming additivematter of this application. Likewise, ,all other embroidery patterns that the machine may produce may"hav,e tlieirwidth varied as desired but for sake of simplicity in 9b to 90they are illustrated in their maximumwidth.

' 'By turning the-said button 60 from position marked N to a position intermediate between positions marked .N and ""l the said cam following fingerwill be" dis placed in posit-ion intermediate between cam members 16a and 160, and an embroidery pattern asshown in Fig.

of the patterns'produced by cam members 16a and 16e, separately operating, and shown in Figs. "9a and 9c, respecti vely, owing to the fact that said finger 20 is com :pelled to "follow the salient portionsiof both said oam members. Then by turning same button 60 to the position marked "1" the pattern shown in Fig. 9c isproduced by the operation of single cam member 16c, and so on. The patterns shown in Figs. 9e, 9g, 9h and 91' are produced by the operation of single cam member Me and respectively 16g, 16h and 16 and the embroidery patternsshown in Figs. 9d, 9] and 9i are produced by the co-operation of pairs of adjacent cams 16c and 16s, and respectively 162 and 16g, and 1611 and 16 The pattern that might be produced by the co-operation of adjacent cam members 16g and 16h is not shown as of not practical use being substantially alike the pattern produced by cam member 16h alone.

From the above it will be readily apparent that by the use of a sewing machine of the type described and improved by the application of a control device according to this invention and comprising a cam unit involving one basic cam member and five embroidery cam members in the co-axial and co-operative relationship set forth, a great number of, say ten, differing embroidery stitching patterns or designs may be produced and that any one of said patterns may be selected by the operator by simple action on the button 60.

Still further, in Figs. 9k to 90 a few examples of further differing embroidery patterns which may be produced by using same machine and same cam members in different arrangement in the cam unit are shown. By setting cam member 16j in a position adjacent to cam member 16a the patterns shown in Fig. 9k is produced, the said pattern being a combination of the regular zigzag pattern with pattern shown in Fig. 9 by setting cam member 160 adjacent to cam member 16g or to earn member 16h the pattern shown in Fig. 9-1 and respectively shown in Fig. 9m may be produced, and by setting cam member 16 adjacent to cam member 162 or to cam member 16g the pattern shown in Fig. 9n and respectively in Fig. 90 may be produced. It will be obvious that a plurality of other patterns may be produced by setting the various cam members in further different relative positions in the cam unit. It will be obvious also that by providing for the operator other cam members besides the ones normally mounted in one cam unit still other embroidery patterns both in separately operating and in co-operation with other ones may be easily produced.

A sewing machine produced according to this invention is provided with means for guiding the point of pivotal connection at 25 between the short link member 24 and the long link member 26 along a fixed path. Said guiding means and the function thereof will be explained with reference to Figs. 2, and 4 to 8 inclusive, either in respect to the construction and the operation of a preferred form of embodiment thereof. According to said form of embodiment, the said pivotal connection at 25 is constituted by a pivot made integral with a squarefaced block 70 slidable along a diametral groove 71 of a disk-shaped member 72 made integral with a short shaft 73 traversing the front side of the machines casing and having an end portion 74 projecting outside the front surface 10 thereof (Figs. 2 and At' its end portion 74 the said shaft 73 is a firmly connected to a handle 75 and it is rotatably supported in the hub forming portion 76 of a two-armed, L-shaped lever 77, the construction of which will be made apparent below.

By turning the said handle 75 the direction of said diametral groove 71 the path along which the said pivotal connection at25 is confined may be varied at will, within practical limits. Suitable indicating means, an indicating arrow 78 for example, may be provided for making apparent the position of said groove, and more particularly said indicating arrow will cooperate with a graduation impressed on a front plate 79 (Figs. 4 and 7) and'comprising numerals indicative of the width of the zigzag sewing produced. Further, the said handle 75, i.e. the guiding means controlled by said handle, are kept in the desired position by suitable braking devices, by a friction plate 80 rotatively connected to same handle 75 and pressed against the said front plate 79 by a coil spring 81, for example, as shown in Fig. 5. The described assembly of means comprising members 70, 72 and 75 and the parts connected thereof, and which will be designated width controlling device, is preferably further improved by the application of means for limiting the amplitude of the possible regulation between a maximum value (depending on the construction of the machine) and a zero value, said limiting means being constituted by a flat lever 82 rotatively connected to said handle 75 (made integral with said friction plate 80, for example, and constituted as a radial extension thereof) and co-operating with displaceable stop members, as stop buttons 83 and 84 for example, arranged along a circular groove 85 of said front plate 79, displaceable therealong and which may be made firm at any point thereon, as desired (Figs. 4, 5 and 7).

The operation of the described width controlling device above described will be explained below with reference to the diagrammatical Fig. 8 of the accompanying drawings. Provided that by the construction and the operation of the above described assembly of members and parts the direction of path along which the said pivotal connection at 25 is confined, the'variation of said direction, between direction D and direction D-D" afiects the amplitude of swinging motion of the two-armed lever 28 (i.e. of the lateral motion of the needle) in respect to the amplitude of the rocking motion of said rocking arm 21, the latter amplitude depending on the deepness of the notching of operating cam member or of co-operating cam members. As the said groove 71 is directed to confine the said pivotal connection at 25 along a path in direction DD, which is perpendicular to the alignment of said pivotal connection at 25 to the pivotal connection at 27 between long link 26 and two-armed lever 28, any motion of the actual small extension of said pivotal connection at 25 along said direction DD' does not cause a motion in said pivotal connection at 27, but only a slight rotative movement of said long link 26 about said point 27, which acts as center point. On the other hand, supposing that the position of the described guiding means of said pivotal connection at 25 is such as to confine the movements thereof along a path in direction D"D", for example, the said movements cause the motion of pivotal connection at 27 as a function of the component along line 2527 of the amplitude of the movement along D"-D. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that by angularly modifying the direction of the path along which the said pivotal connection at 25 moves, a component along line 2527 of the desired amplitude may be obtained whereby the width of the plain zigzag or of the embroidery stitching that is being produced may be varied at will down to zero width. The various described parts and members are designed and arranged for having the said indicating arrow 78 pointed at indicating sign 0 as the direction of groove 71 is perpendicular to line 2527.

'In the preferred form of embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 the sewing machine improved according to this invention is further provided with a lateral displacement device for the purpose of having at will the middle sewing alignment displaced to the left or to the right with respect to the regular sewing alignment, according to the most modern practice of embroidery or ornamental sewing and for meeting certain sewing requirements known by those skilled in the art. In general, said lateral displacement device includes means for displacing the position ofmember 72 acting as guiding means for the said pivotal connection at 25. Referring now to said figures, the said member 72 and the shaft 73 made integral therewithare rotatably supported 9 in one end portion 76 of a two-armed L-shaped lever 77 pivotally supported about a pin 86 fixedly connected to the machine frame, and provided with another forkshaped end portion 87. Between the prongs of said forkshaped portion 87 a pin 88 is slidably arranged, the said pin being made integral and in eccentric relationship with a shaft 89 rotatably supported in the casing (Fig. 2).

The said shaft 89 is firmly connected at its portion outer of said casing to a second handle 90.

As consequence of the above described arrangement and combination of parts, as the said handle 90 is turned the said eccentric pin 88 causes the two-armed lever 77 to swing about its pivot 86 and the axis about which the said guiding member 72 is rotatably supported to be displaced, thus the whole assembly of the width controlling device is correspondingly displaced for having the whole assembly comprising the described members cooperating for imparting the lateral movements to the needle in operation in a dilferent spatial arrangement and relationship. Owing to the fact that, for the operation of the described lateral displacing device the position of handle 75 controlling the width controlling device is modified in respect to the front flank of casing 10, the described indicating signs pointed by arrow 78 are not impressed on the surface 10 of said casing but on the said front plate 79 which is not firmly connected to said casing but slidable on the front surface 10' thereof, and which is traversed by said shaft 73, whereby said front plate 79 is correspondingly displaced. Further, for the purpose of keeping the said pointer 78 in correct pointing relationship with the sign which indicates the width of the zigzag sewing actually produced, the said front plate 79 is traversed by the said shaft 89of second handle 90,-the said shaft 89 being provided with an eccentric portion 91 (Figs. 2 and 7) at its front plate traversing position, the said eccentric portion 91 being designed to cause the left side of said plate to move as the right portion thereof (traversed by shaft 73) is displaced.

The lateral displacement device is preferably also provided with means for having its parts kept firmly at its centre, left and right operative positions, the said means comprising, for example, a ball 92 kept by a coil spring 93 in abutting relationship with the rear surface of a flange forming extension 94 of said shaft 89 provided with hollows in which said ball may partially rest.

While I have illustrated and described but one form of embodiment of this invention, I do not intend to be limited to the detail shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made thereto without departing in any case from the spirit of this invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of my invention and the mode by which the same may be carried on and operated that by applying current knowledge one can readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of this invention. For example, in a sewing machine of the type described and provided with a plurality of cam members, the advantageous provision of separately constructed and detachably supported and arranged cam members in the cam unit might in certain cases be omitted, and a one-piece cam unit comprising a plurality of co-axial zones of differently shaped and notched peripheries might be also produced in lieu thereof. Further, the auxiliary devices named, for simplicity sake, width controlled device and lateral displacement device might be omitted in view of a simpler and/or cheaper production, or in view of certain uses of the machine in which the regulation of width and/or lateral displacement of sewing alignment are not required. Still further, the whole assembly comprising the plurality of cam members, in the various forms of possible embodiment thereof and named in its unity embroidery patterns control device, may be constructed as a unit separate from the machine and designed to be applied to previously produced standard zigzag types of sewing machines, as an embroidery stitching attachment therefor.

Such adaptations, omissions and variations should and are therefore intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a sewing machine of the zigzag type described, having a vertically reciprocating and laterally movable needle and a drive shaft for reciprocating said needle; a multiple embroidery stitch forming control device comprising cam means for laterally moving said needle according to a predetermined cycle of operation, said control device comprising a cam unit rotatably supported in the machine, gear means rotatively connecting said cam unit to said drive shaft, a plurality of cam forming portions having diiferently notched peripheries of like basic diameter and in co-axial and adjacent relative arrangement, one cam following finger designed to cooperate with said notched peripheries, arm means rockably supported in the machine and having an end extension spanning over the said cam unit in direction parallel to the axis thereof, means for supporting said cam following finger on said arm means and for having same displaceable along the said spanning extension thereof, hand operated means externally arranged to the machine and mechanically connected to said displaceable cam following finger for having same displaced along said spanning extension, and a mechanical transmission for operatively connecting said rockably supported arm means to said laterally movable needle; said cam unit comprising an inner tubular member rotatably supported in the machine, an outer tubular member removably supported on said inner tubular member, and a plurality of disk-shaped cam members each one of which is provided with one notched periphery and is removably supported about said outer tubular member in the said relative arrangement; and 'gear means rotatively connecting said drive shaft to said inner tubular member for driving the same and said tubular and disk-shaped members.

2. In combination with a sewing machine of the zigzag type having a reciprocating and laterally movable needle and a drive shaft for reciprocating said needle; a multiple embroidery stitch forming control device for laterally moving said needle according to a predetermined cycle of operation, said control device including a cam unit, said cam unit comprising an inner tubular member rotatably supported in the machine, an outer tubular member removably supported on said inner tubular member, and a plurality of disc-shaped cam members each of which is provided with a notched periphery and is removably supported on said outer tubular member, said cam members and tubular members being in coaxial and adjacent relative arrangement, and said notched peripheries having like basic diameters, a cam follower finger having an engaging portion cooperating with said notched peripheries, arm means rockably supported in the machine, means for supporting said cam follower finger on said arm, means for movement between a plurality of positions in which said engaging portion thereof cooperates with said peripheries of said disc-shaped cam members; operating means externally arranged to the machine and mechanically connected to said cam follower finger for moving the same between said positions; a mechanical transmission for operatively connecting said rockaqy supported arm means to said laterally movable needle; and gear means for connecting said drive shaft to said inner tubular member for driving the same.

3. An arrangement as set forth in claim 2 wherein said mechanical transmission comprises two link members, a pivot means connecting said two link members, one of said link members being driven by said rockably supported arm means, and the other link member laterally driving said laterally movable needle, means for guiding said pivot means along a predetermined path, and manually operable means for modifying the direction of said predetermined path for having the amplitude of the driving action of said other link member varied with respect to the amplitude of the driven motion of said one link member.

4. An arrangement as set forth in claim 3 wherein said pivot means includes a slide member; wherein said means for guiding said pivot means includes a turnable member formed with an elongated recess slidably guiding said slide member along said predetermined path, and wherein said manually operable means are means for turning said turnable member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller July 23, 1912 Bitzer June 18, 1935 Bolter Sept. 29, 1942 Sigoda Dec. 19, 1944 Hale June 5, 1945 Van Tuyl et-al Apr. 1, 1952 Karlsson June 17, 1952 Harris Nov. 9, 1954 Urscheler July 24, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1908 France May 6, 1935 

